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I think some G5 systems are 32 bit only - make sure - you cannot run 64 bit on 32 bit.<br />
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That said I would strongly encourage running something newer than a ~8 year old server as the main server. &nbsp;That's asking for trouble.
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Thank you for the heads-up. &nbsp;<br />
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Though the server is currently running Windows Server 2003 32 bit edition, I have confirmed on HP's support website and the server dose support 64 bit edition of windows, including Windows Server 2008.
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I am running Server Essentials 2012R2 on a &quot;gaming PC&quot; (Xidac--for a small office that needed a &quot;silent system&quot;) and it runs easily with just one i7 processor and 8GB of RAM so it should have no issues on a real server system.
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My question is not so much as if it will work since, as I mentioned in my earlier remark, there are cases out there that prove it will run no problem. My question rather is what would be best way/procedure to go about installing Essentials 2012 R2 on the ML370 G5 since it is not &quot;officially&quot; supported by HP (since, obviously, they would like to sell their newer Servers)?
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How much RAM does it have? If it has 16GB or more (even 8 may do) I would set it up as a virtual server running on a hypervisor -- that way if it turns out the HP can't do the job you need it to you can easily transfer the virtual server to a different server and not lose all the work you did setting up the Essentials server. (I hope I have answered the question you asked this time around.)
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We are in the process of rebuilding a Small Business network infrastructure. &nbsp;The business owns an <b>HP ProLiant ML370 G5 Server</b> and would like to do a <b><i><u>fresh </u></i></b>install of <b>Windows Server 2012 <i><u>Essentials</u></i></b>. &nbsp;<br />
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Since this is an older generation of ProLiant servers, Windows 2012 is not &quot;officially&quot; supported but I have heard success stories on ruining Windows 2012 on the older ProLiant servers. &nbsp;<br />
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Any guidance on how to proceed to deploy Windows Server 2012 on the HP ProLiant ML370 G5 server would be greatly appreciated.
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We are in the process of rebuilding a Small Business network infrastructure.  The business owns an HP ProLiant ML370 G5 Server and would like to do a fresh install of Windows Server 2012 Essentials.  

Since this is an older generation of ProLiant servers, Windows 2012 is not "officially" supported but I have heard success stories on ruining Windows 2012 on the older ProLiant servers.  

Any guidance on how to proceed to deploy Windows Server 2012 on the HP ProLiant ML370 G5 server would be greatly appreciated.

Running Windows Server 2012 Essentials for HP ProLiant ML370 G5

Small Business Server (SBS) is a line of server operating systems targeted at small businesses by bundling the operating system with a number of other Microsoft products that would normally need to be purchased or licensed separately. The most notable inclusions are Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint and ISA/TMG (Microsoft's firewall and proxy server).

Windows Server 2012 is the server version of Windows 8 and the successor to Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Server 2012 is the first version of Windows Server to have no support for Itanium-based computers since Windows NT 4.0. Windows Server 2012, now in its second release (Windows Server 2012 Release 2) includes Foundation, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter, and does not support IA-32 or IA-64 processors.

Windows Server 2012

Servers are computing devices that are similar to desktop computers in that they have the same basic components, but are significantly different in size, configuration and purpose. Servers are usually accessed over a network, and many run unattended, without a computer monitor, input device, audio hardware or USB interfaces. Many servers do not have a graphical user interface (GUI), and are configured and managed remotely. Servers typically include hardware redundancy such as dual power supplies, RAID disk systems, and ECC memory, along with extensive pre-boot memory testing and verification. Critical components might be hot swappable, and to guard against overheating, servers might have more powerful fans or use water cooling.